AU. This story follows the Yu-Gi-Oh! characters through their lives at Domino High School, a semi-private boarding school in Japan. Watch as their secret, and not so, romances unfold. Some strong language. Has nothing to do with the TV show.

The first day of the new year at Domino High School was just like any other. Students arrived with high hopes of being assigned to classes and roommates that they would like. They shoved their ways through the mass of bodies, searching for friends to find out who their classmates would be. Groans and cheers of delight filled the air as disappointments and pleasant surprises were made.

In one corner of the courtyard stood the notorious duo of Honda Hiroto and Jonouchi Katsuya, who were both wearing frowns.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Jonouchi. "I thought that we were going to have the same room and class assignments as last year! With my luck the way it's going, my roommate's going to be Kaiba!"

"He graduated last year," Honda reminded his friend.

The blonde breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief. "I forgot. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about him. So you're in class 3-B?"

Honda nodded. "Yeah, and room 515."

A new voice entered the conversation. "You have got to be kidding me." The boys turned to find Otogi Ryuuji—a mutual friend of theirs through Muto Yugi—approaching them.

"What do you want, lover boy?" Jonouchi demanded of the intruder.

"I want a different room," he replied, holding up his schedule, which also displayed his dorm room…number 515.

Honda's eyes bugged. "WHAT?"

Across the courtyard, Mazaki Anzu was busy chatting with Jonouchi's younger sister Kawai Shizuka, who was a freshman this year. "It's so great that we're roommates!" she gushed.

Shizuka smiled. "Yeah. I was afraid that I wouldn't know anybody around me. I'm really glad that I have you to help me out."

"Of course!" Anzu rose onto her toes, searching for her usual group of friends. It seemed as though they had not yet begun to congregate, so she took Shizuka's hand and began to drag her through the crowd. "Let me show you where we usually hang out. That way if you ever need one of us and I'm not in our room, you'll know where to look."

"Okay," she responded brightly, as though she had a choice.

Just as the two girls disappeared, Muto Yugi and Muto Yami broke through a final wall of people. "Huh. I could've sworn I saw them," muttered Yugi.

His brother—whose arms seemed to be eternally crossed over his chest—looked down and shrugged. "We may as well find out who our roommates are while we're wandering." Yami was the elder of the Muto boys, but only by a year.

"…have somebody's fucking head for this!"

"Bakura, calm down. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? We specifically requested to be roomed together! You would think that they would at least pay attention to our money when making room assignments!"

Touzoku Bakura and his younger twin Touzoku Ryou emerged into the same small clearing as the Muto brothers.

Ryou noticed immediately and gave them a broad smile. "Hello! How is your luck going with rooms and classes?"

"Because ours is really sucking so far," added Bakura, which earned him a stern glare from his brother. "You can't say that you're not upset."

"Well," Yugi interrupted, "Yami and I aren't in the same room or class."

"What room are you in?" urged the younger twin.

Yugi looked down at his schedule. "531."

"Good! Mine too! What about you, Yami-san?"

"512."

Bakura let out a low growl. "Fantastic." He had never liked the elder Muto and had never pretended to. His day was getting worse and worse. His only consolation was that he would still be in his brother's class, 2-A.

"So did Bakura! We can all get to know each other better this year!" Honestly, Ryou was upset. Very much so. But he wouldn't let it ruin his school year. So he hadn't been assigned to his brother's room. At least he was with Yugi, and not one of the many boys who was always acting as though they wanted to molest him. There were plenty of those.

"It seems that we've taken care of that matter," said Yami. "Shall we go meet under the tree?" Before the others could agree, he began to walk off, quickly followed by his brother and the Touzoku boys.

Ishtar Marik entered the courtyard alone. He had spent a semester at Domino High School the year before while his sister Isis and adopted brother Rishid were following their Egyptian exhibit across Japan. He attempted in vain to find the reason he had begged Isis to let him come back to this school amongst the sea of blue-uniformed boys and sailor-suited girls. Marik was beginning to regret his impulsive request. For all he knew, the person could have moved away, or maybe graduated. It wasn't as though Marik had ever worked up the courage to say something. He looked down at his schedule, which told him that his room number was 509. Last year he had been given an empty room because he had enrolled after all the other students had been paired up. There was no chance that he would be alone this year. He just hoped that he wasn't in a room with some pervert who assumed that because they were roommates, they would be secret lovers who kept all sexual relations confined to their bedroom. Or a total homophobe. Or someone who liked bringing his girlfriends and/or boyfriends over to make out. The list went on and on. Since he had no friends—or acquaintances, really—Marik followed the steady stream of boys that had already started toward the dormitory building. The easiest way to find his roommate would be to sit on his bed and see who came in. Besides, being the first there meant that he got to pick his bed.

By this time, the group of friends consisting of Jonouchi, Honda, Otogi, Anzu, Shizuka, Yugi, Yami, Bakura, and Ryou had converged at the picnic table under the tallest tree on the campus, where they were discussing their classes and roommates. Shizuka was alone in class 1-C. Jonouchi, Yami, Bakura, and Ryou were in class 2-A. Honda, Otogi, Anzu, and Yugi were in class 3-B.

Room assignments had been taken differently by all of them. Honda and Otogi regarded one another with suspicious glares. Anzu and Shizuka were absolutely thrilled. Yugi and Ryou were happy to know that they had not been placed with someone scary. Yami and Bakura paid no attention to each other.

Out of everyone under the tree, Jonouchi was the only person who still didn't know who his roommate was, and was secretly nervous. There were a lot of guys at Domino High School who wanted to beat him down, and if he happened to have been assigned with any one of them, he may as well start writing his will. He also hoped that his roommate didn't turn out to be gay or bisexual. It wasn't that he was homophobic; he just didn't like the idea of having to listen to the guy needling him about "experimenting" all year. Otogi had told horror stories about his bisexual roommate last year, though as Jonouchi and Honda had agreed, he was asking for it with his pretty hair and gorgeous green eyes, not to mention his "sweet ass", as they had overheard one of the girls in their class say. Jonouchi was perfectly straight, and he didn't want to have to say it more than once. He turned when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

Honda looked down at him, a shadow of Jonouchi's apprehension in his eyes. "You want me to wait outside your door?"

"Sure, pal," he replied as he rose. "But don't come in unless I say the code word."

Beginning of a brand new project (what am I thinking?)! The first few chapters are going to be a little short, as they are mostly introducing everyone's AU backstory. Please review, as I would like to know your opinion as to whether you're interested enough for me to continue or not. I already have a few chapters, but I figured that I'd better beta it on all of you guys. Thanks for reading, and once again, please REVIEW.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.